Clinton Scores With Blacks, Working Class, Condo Dwellers

They loved Bill Clinton in the working-class neighborhoods of Broward County. They loved him in black areas.

But especially they loved Bill Clinton in the condos.

Broward gave the Arkansas governor his best showing anywhere in Florida, where he won Tuesday`s Democratic presidential primary with 51 percent of the statewide vote.

Clinton ended up with 53.6 percent of the vote in Broward County. He buried former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas, who drew only 34.6 percent of the vote in Broward, despite a late blitz of campaigning as part of a bid for an upset win in Florida.

About 40 percent of Broward`s voters showed up at the polls on Tuesday. Most were drawn by the Democratic presidential primary; Republican turnout lagged.

Tsongas` efforts couldn`t overcome one fact: Clinton`s organization had been campaigning in Broward for almost six months.

The problem for Tsongas was that there are far fewer Democratic voters in those areas than in the condos -- and far fewer suburban precincts than retirement communities.

On the Republican side, challenger Patrick Buchanan failed to make significant inroads against President George Bush.

But Bush could not shake his conservative challenger, either: Bush finished with 68.7 percent and Buchanan drew his typical 30-percent protest vote (actually, 31.3 percent), despite not campaigning in Broward and largely writing off Florida.

Interest in their race was tepid. Only 35.6 percent of the county`s registered Republicans voted, and the bulk of those votes were clustered in cities that also had municipal elections.

For instance, in heavily Republican Weston, where there were no local elections, only 27 percent of registered voters turned out.

On another matter, county election officials seemed pleased with an experiment. They broadcast election totals over several cable-television systems in the county, giving viewers up-to-the-minute results.